Castle Rushen

One of the best-preserved medieval castles in Europe, Castle Rushen dominates the centre of Castletown much as it has since parts of it were first built under Norse rule, with the keep strengthened through the 13th and 14th centuries. It served as the seat of Manx government and later as a courthouse and prison, and it functioned as a working administrative building for longer than almost any castle in the British Isles. Manx National Heritage took the castle on in 1988 and restored a working medieval kitchen and furnished chambers inside, giving a sense of the building as a lived-in seat of power rather than just a ruin.